Lifestyle Solutions for a Happy Healthy You!

Posts tagged ‘grapes’

basked filled with luscious blue or dark red fruit and vegetables does much more than look good in still life paintings or on your kitchen counter. It contains a wealth of incredible health benefits.

The top benefactor in purple foods is their antioxidant content. The powerful health benefits of antioxidants are only too well known: they neutralize the agents of aging and disease, and keep you looking younger longer. Now consider this: According to the USDA , potatoes with the darkest colors have more than four times the antioxidant potential than other potatoes. Remember: The darker the fruit or vegetable, the more antioxidants it has.

Prunes, purple cabbage, eggplant, blackberries, black currants, purple onions, concord grapes: all of these have a natural purple pigment that contains flavonoids, including reservatrol, which keeps blood pressure in control and boosts immunity from certain cancers. The skin of a black grape, for example, has this pigment, called anthocyanin. In cranberries, the purple pigment is seen to benefit those suffering from infections of the urinary tract.

There is evidence that purple foods improve heart health, vision, and brain power. Recent studies found that adults who eat purple and blue fruits and vegetables have reduced risk for both high blood pressure and low HDL cholesterol (the “good” kind); they are also less likely to be overweight.

So, with so many wonderful reasons to eat more fruits and vegetables of the purple family, get more of them into your daily diet. And don’t stop at eggplant and berries. Exciting purple varieties of corn, asparagus, figs, potatoes and such are yours for the tasting and enjoying!

By Shubhra Krishan

Writer, editor and journalist Shubhra Krishan is the author of Essential Ayurveda: What it is and what it can do for you (New World Library, 2003), Radiant Body, Restful Mind: A Woman’s book of comfort (New World Library, 2004), and The 9 to 5 Yogi: How to feel like a sage while working like a dog (Hay House India, 2011).

Excellent Health is found along your journey and not just at your destination. Would it make sense for us to spend several minutes together to discuss your Health Issues or Problems and how HealthyHighway can help YOU Live YOUR Optimum Life? Please complete the information on our Contact Us page to schedule your consultation today! I look forward to helping YOU Live YOUR Optimum Life!

Your brain controls every function in your body yet we rarely give it a second thought. And, few of us choose foods that protect or heal our brain. Here are some of the best foods for thought (literally):

1. Spinach—More than Just for Popeye

A study of middle-aged rats fed diets with added spinach, strawberry extract, or vitamin E for nine months found that spinach proved most potent in protecting nerve cells against the effects of aging in two parts of the brain. More research needs to be done but it looks like Popeye was building more than muscles when he ate spinach.

2. Benefits of Blue for Grey Matter

Blueberries contain a group of plant nutrients called proanthocyanidins. Proanthocyanidins have a unique capacity to protect both the watery and fatty parts of the brain against damage from some environmental toxins. Proanthocyanidins decrease free radical activity within and between brain cells. Blueberry proanthocyanidins have greater antioxidant properties than vitamins C and E. Blueberries appear to have some of the highest concentrations of these powerful antioxidants. In other studies, researchers found that compounds in blueberries may reverse some age-related memory loss and motor skill decline.

Blueberries are excellent anti-inflammatory agents. They increase the amounts of compounds called heat-shock proteins that decrease as people age, thereby causing inflammation and damage, particularly in the brain. By eating blueberries regularly, research shows that these heat-shock proteins stop declining and inflammation lessens, not to mention that they just taste fabulous.

3. From the Vine to Your Palate

A plant nutrient found in grapes, grape juice and red wine appears to protect the brain against Alzheimer’s disease. It’s called resveratrol, and it is an antioxidant thought to be responsible for many of the purported benefits of red wine on brain cells. The researchers found that resveratrol protected brain cells by mopping up free radicals before they can cause brain damage. And while people may prefer to hear that red wine is the best source, the alcohol in wine is still damaging to brain cells. Red or purple grapes are the best option to load up on resveratrol.

The brain is 60% fat and requires healthy fats to reduce inflammation (linked to most brain disorders) and maintain a healthy blood-brain barrier—a mechanism intended to protect the brain from harmful substances. Omega 3 fatty acids like those found in salmon, walnuts, flax seeds or flax seed oil, or hemp seeds, help to quell inflammation and support a strong blood-brain barrier, while boosting our memory. Be sure to choose only wild salmon since high levels of mercury and PCBs have been found in farmed salmon and both of these substances may have adverse effects on the brain. Also, be sure to choose raw walnuts, flax or hemp seeds or the oil made from them since the fats contained in these nuts and seeds can have damaging effects on brain health when heated.

8. The Memory-Boosting Power of Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain a powerful memory-boosting phytonutrient called “lycopene.” Research shows that those who consume lycopene in their daily diets had sharper memories than those who didn’t consume high amounts of lycopene. Tomatoes aren’t the only source. Another great source of lycopene is watermelon.

9. Tea for Two Hemispheres

Researchers found that people who drank two or more cups of tea each day were less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Black and green tea (especially green tea) contains potent antioxidants with twenty times the power to protect against free radicals than vitamin E. Green tea also lowers the risk of blood clots and clumping linked to stroke.

Excellent Health is found along your journey and not just at your destination. Would it make sense for us to spend several minutes together to discuss your Health Issues or Problems and how HealthyHighway can help YOU Live YOUR Optimum Life? Please complete the information at www.healthyhighway.org/contact.htmlto schedule your consultation. I look forward to helping YOU Live YOUR Optimum Life!

Lifestyle Solutions for a Happy Healthy You!

Each person is unique and deserves a personalized approach when it comes to living healthy. What you eat, what products you use ~ on your body, in your home and office, how you talk to yourself ~ it all matters! Don't live in Atlanta? No problem. We do virtual coaching worldwide!
I look forward to helping YOU Live a Happy Healthy Life!
Leesa A. Wheeler, CNHP, CHS, CMSAT, CIC
Healthy Lifestyle Coach, Author of two books...
Live Well... Lifestyle Solutions for a Happy Healthy You!
Melodies from Within
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